When to add 3rd meal

The babies are 8 months old ALREADY.. not that I want to add more mess and high chair time to my day but when did you add the third meal.. For us it will be lunch.

 

I'm just now thinking about adding a third (breakfast). I think they may be just about ready for it.

I'd just watch their cues and try to let them take the lead - do they really like their solids? Do they really get hungry for them? If they're loving it and eager for more, you could go ahead; if they're standoffish, you could wait. If you try adding another meal and they look at you like "huh?" it can wait.

 

My girls were getting 3 solid meals a day at 8 mos. I think I started around 6 mos. maybe. At 8 mos they were eating:
breakfast:
split 1 stage 2 fruit
oatmeal

lunch:
1 tub stage 2 veggie each and a fruit

dinner:
stage 3 veggie, 2 stage 2 dinners and a fruit. (they split this)

of course bottle in between etc. but that's what I was giving them in the way of solids at 8 mos. But I agree with PP - to follow their cues.
Good Luck!

 

We didn't do it until they were almost a year. We started solids at 6 months, and for a long time it was just one meal mid-morning. Then around 8 months we added a second meal mid-afternoon. (At least, they did at daycare -- sometimes on weekends we didn't even bother.) At about 11 months, it was obvious that they needed more than a bottle at dinner/bedtime, so we added dinner.

 

I added it around 11 months and didn't worry about offering consistently until after 12 months.

 

we've been doing it since 6 mos - smalle meals, just to get them used to the routine of eating solids 3x/day. as the weeks are going by, they are taking more and more at each feeding.

I don't think there's a right answer to this . . .

 

I started lunch in between 6 and 7 months. Not that they needed it, that was the timeframe our pedi suggested.

 

We just had our 9 month appt and our pedi strongly encouraged us to add a third meal. of course, SHE'S not the one who has to prepare and clean up from it, so......

But even now, meals are hit or miss; sometimes they really like to eat, sometimes they're just not interested. Now that we're doing more self-feeding it seems like much less gets in their mouths, but the high chairs, floor, heads and chins are liberally decorated with whatever they're eating. I'm going to make sure that I still feed them so they actually GET some solids, instead of just practicing that fist to mouth thing...

fyi, our pedi said 9 month olds LOVE salty foods - because they're usually teething hard and the salt draws water from their gums, which reduces the pain. Interestng tidbit, I thought (and my girls now eat tofu w/soy sauce - difficult to believe, but they love it!)

 

We haven't yet added a third meal (breakfast), but will probably in the next couple of weeks. At our 9 month appointment our pedi said we should try to add it in along with some snacks throughout the day. I'm trying to follow my girls though and they just don't seem to need it yet.

 

QUOTE(Jordari @ Dec 23 2007, 09:40 PM) [snapback]545093[/snapback]
fyi, our pedi said 9 month olds LOVE salty foods - because they're usually teething hard and the salt draws water from their gums, which reduces the pain. Interestng tidbit, I thought (and my girls now eat tofu w/soy sauce - difficult to believe, but they love it!)


Very interesting! No wonder Ana loved that cracker DH gave her last night. She was drooling and chewing it and for a little while not grabbing at her gums.

 

Hmm - don't want to hijack the thread, but how much salt is ok for them to have? Are there any guidelines about it? TIA...